Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

OK... I've played guitar for over 20 years, I am currently into 360s, Fender Stratos and Chandler 555s through a Mesa Heartbreaker and Ampeg Reverberockets. (Tube, Twin Combos). I use very few effects and play with reverb and light distortion.

Assuming... For the sake of argument/discussion, I switched over to bass... And assuming I had a re-vamped 4001 with hi-gains... And assuming I wanted to go for nice, powerful bass sound with clarity and not too much treble... What kind of amp or pick-up switches am I looking at?

Amps... I am used to Tube Combos w/ 12s. What about the bass World? Do tubes add that warmth or is solid state just more accurate and reliable? I like my guitar rig for being airy and open... I am assuming I want something tighter? I like being MIC'd when playing guitar... Is bass different? Never seen the bassist in my other band MIC'd but I've liked the sound of the amp, driving the speakers... Are bass rigs different?

Pick-ups... Someone has suggested a re-wound "... horseshoe" and a toaster (TV Jones) in the neck. Anyone fooled with something similar? I've got hi-gains and haven't really explored them. For tone, I love the tone on "Burn for You" and Wrapped Around Your Finger (Both Police) as well as "Penny Lane" and "Taxman" (by some obscure band from Liverpool). Also like the Rush tone from Moving Pictures LP. In fact, there is a bass "... pop" and run in Red Barchetta that is really cool too. I don't like much more of a growly tone than that though.

I know this is a wide open question but any feedback or links appreciated. I'd rather spend the weekend reading this stuff than 3 years and a few thousand bucks experimenting. I think I have a pretty critical ear, but frankly, once you get beyond the B+ stuff on the market out there, it is probably lost on me. In other words, I am not a boutique kinda guy, but I do appreciate more than solid state **** with cheap speakers and cabinets... At least with guitars..

Does any of this help you give me some feedback?

Thanks in advance,

JKC

Just get a new 4003, put TI nickel flats on it, and rock for awhile until you find "your" tone.

for the last 5 years I've been very happy with my Markbass cmd121p combo,a 29 pound cube with 1-12" speaker and 250 watts. I've used it in a variety of situations, it sounds great,and is very reliable. if you add another 8 ohm cabinet you have 500 watts,and can play most anywhere. Markbass also makes lots of separate heads and cabinets,but overall i think this is their best buy.($899) I have also found that a tube emulator pedal really gives that edge and sparkle to almost any passive-pickup-loaded bass,and i currently am using a tech 21 VT pedal for that. i have been really intrigued by the Orange Little Terror amps,too,but never had an opportunity to test one.

Welcome to the forum,btw!

jcreasy wrote: Amps... I am used to Tube Combos w/ 12s. What about the bass World? Do tubes add that warmth or is solid state just more accurate and reliable? I like my guitar rig for being airy and open... I am assuming I want something tighter? I like being MIC'd when playing guitar... Is bass different? Never seen the bassist in my other band MIC'd but I've liked the sound of the amp, driving the speakers... Are bass rigs different?

I don’t think it’s really comparable to guitar in the ways you’re thinking. Tubes sound good with bass, but it’s not “necessary” like it is with guitar. I am decidedly a tube snob when it comes to playing guitar (as most are) but I have been gigging with a solid state rig (Markbass, as Woody mentioned) for four years, 1-3 times a week. It has given me zero problems (seriously, ZERO), sounds really good, is extremely light, and was not expensive.

Never heard of anyone mic’ing a bass amp. Just go direct via whatever amp you’re using.

Pick-ups... Someone has suggested a re-wound "... horseshoe" and a toaster (TV Jones) in the neck. Anyone fooled with something similar? I've got hi-gains and haven't really explored them. For tone, I love the tone on "Burn for You" and Wrapped Around Your Finger (Both Police) as well as "Penny Lane" and "Taxman" (by some obscure band from Liverpool). Also like the Rush tone from Moving Pictures LP. In fact, there is a bass "... pop" and run in Red Barchetta that is really cool too. I don't like much more of a growly tone than that though.

Re-wound horseshoe? TV Jones toaster?

I think you’ll like Higains just fine. But really, when it comes to playing bass, the issue is not so much pickups as it is string choice. You want the McCartney thump? Try LaBellas or Pyramids. If you want to sound like Geddy it’s gotta be roundwounds. Tough having it both ways, but flatwounds would get you closer to it then roundwounds. Maybe D’Addario Chromes or a set of half-rounds.

Jimbo - is this the checker bass?

Oui. What year is it?

jcreasy wrote:Oui. What year is it?

Late '70s, if I recall. No S# ?

For me, I use tube bass amps 90% of the time. I do have a solid state Aguilar AG500 that I use for small gigs. The sound of tubes is what my ear prefers. I also use vintage Ampegs, and I insist on being mic-ed whenever possible. Otherwise, you lose the "growl" from the amp. When I am unsure of the ability to be mic-ed, I use a tube amp with an XLR out or a good tube DI (I prefer the REDDI).

But, it has taken me a lot of years and a lot of dollars to figure this out. If you want to "plug and play" and just get to it, you should be ok with a decent solid state head like an Aguilar AG500, a Markbass or an Eden, and a cabinet that you are comfortable moving. Since you like thump, I would suggest a 15 or a 410.

That is my 2 cents!

I play a 4001s. I too am not a big fan of the trebley rick sounds you hear so much. My bass pickups are dialed in for the more punchy fat sound. I have toaster in the neck position. and it booms. More than a few times sound guys have said... I'm not a fan of the Rick bass, but your's is so full and punchy.Tube heads are great. Ampeg Svt cant go wrong. But a GK 700RB series II is an awesome sounding bass head. Lots of punch growl and bottom end. love it My rick booms as much as my 67 Hofner

I really like the sound of my 4003 through my Ampeg SVT 3Pro (solid state, but with a tube pre-amp) through a 1x15 and 4x10 stack. The mix of speaker sizes gives me a really great, full sound. When I get some more money, I'm thinking of getting a full tubed head. But for now, the 3Pro works well.

With the stack it's harder, but for the shows I play with just my 4x10 or just my 8x10, I insist on my cab being mic'd. I've paid a lot of money to develop my tone, and I expect a lot more from my speaker cabinets than just a stage PA, you know?

In my less experience days, I had a sound guy do a DI direct from my bass - not even from the amp. There's no way that sort of thing would fly, now.

Hi-gains™ in the 4001 will get you what you need just fine, and bypassing the .0047µF cap (if it has one) will get you more bottom end all but still give you clarity. Solid state amps are the way to go, especially as we all get older and have to move the gear ourselves. I had Markbass amps for years (and still have my Minimark combo amp), but I now use a really great sounding Aguilar Tone Hammer 500 amp with my two LDS cabinets. TI Jazz Flats are an excellent choice for strings, or another that I use occasionally is D'Addario Half Rounds; you will have to try and decide if you like roundwound strings, they can be a bit abrasive on the fingers.

There is so much to say about this subject, you might want to saunter on over to that forum where they Talk about Bass and do some browsing.

About 20 years ago, I used an SVT head I bought used. I used it until it came time to re-tube it, and the cost of all the preamp tubes plus six 6550's would have cost more than I paid for the amp itself. So I bought a Carvin PB300, which I still use for keyboards to this day with a SWR Triad cab (think PA cab on steroids).

Newer class D amps, if they are engineered correctly, have all the tone and all the presence and warmth without the weight of those old amps. For example, my new Carvin MB12, the entire combo, rated at 250 watts RMS with extension speaker, with the new neo drivers, along with the extension 1X15 ported cab I stack it on, weighs less than the SVT head did, rated at 300 watts (no, I'm not going there with the "tube watts" verses "transistor watts" debate -- this amp does what I need for it to. If I need to be louder, then that's what the PA is for). Moreover, it has all the current features that are necessary for bass gigging now: expanded tone controls including 2 bands of parametric along with the bass & treble, a clean controllable level XLR line out either pre- or post-eq and ground lift, built in compressor, headphone/tuner out/side loop out, active/passive, tweeter dim, etc.

For guitar, I do have a couple of tube heads, a silverfaced Bassman Export and a 1st year of production Marshall 2203 (converted from 6550's to 6CA7's - the "big bottle" version of an EL34 that uses 6550 plates, so it's like a 6L6 on steroids, without the harshness of a 6550 but a little more headroom for clean than an EL34) but I'm most likely to use my POD 2.0 into a good sound system or mike my 15-watt Vox Pathfinder stacked on a 1X12 cab loaded with a 1967 Jensen (yes, I got inside it and soldered a jumper on the speaker out of the amp so I can have both inboard and external speakers, not either/or, because the "white paper" on the output IC says it will take a 4-ohm load)

For bass, you'd have to pay me an awful lot of $$ and provide the roadies for me to perform with a tube amp again.

iiipopes wrote:...(no, I'm not going there with the "tube watts" verses "transistor watts" debate...).

Don't forget - Aguilar watts!

new ampegs have too much modern tone (so toneless for ricks) i think.aquilar is one of the bests.but dark sound.markbass SS models have endless tone options and aggressive mids what i want but tube models are darky.i love eden wt series.eden has well-balanced tube-SS tone with very very optional eq.my opininon is eden is the best choice for you.try it

rickomania1970 wrote:new ampegs have too much modern tone (so toneless for ricks) i think.aquilar is one of the bests.but dark sound.markbass SS models have endless tone options and aggressive mids what i want but tube models are darky.i love eden wt series.eden has well-balanced tube-SS tone with very very optional eq.my opininon is eden is the best choice for you.try it

I just got a new Ampeg SVT-VR and 810AV like 2-3 weeks ago and I'm still blown away by how awesome my Ric sounds through it. I have to purposefully try to make it sound bad. I'd say it's chalk full of vintage-y awesomeness. Has plenty of bite and midrange if you need it but has that great tube warmth and smoothness too. I was always endlessly tweaking the other amps I had because I was never really satisfied with my tone. With the SVT-VR I just set it and forget it!